About the Course/Instructor

CSC 213 - Operating Systems and Parallel Algorthms - Professor Jerod Weinman

1  About the Course

Q:

What do you think is the one of or the most valuable skill a student can learn in this class(idea, concept, strategy, skill etc.)?

A:

As I mentioned in class, being aware of what's happening one abstractino layer below where we usually think will give you great power in diagnosing system behavior that might otherwise seem peculair. Aside from that, patterns for concurrent programming are also increasingly important and powerful.

Q:

It seems like there is a lab each week, and every other class is a discussion. This is different from the other CS classes I have taken, where each class is a lab. Is this correct?

A:

Yep!

Q:

Are we going to be using C exclusively?

A:

Yes, except for the CUDA extensions we'll be using.

Q:

I am unsure about the best papers list, what exactly is the voting for?

A:

You will vote for which recent award winning research paper(s) to read for and discuss in class.

Q:

Regarding your class attendance policy, would academic conferences, Hackathons, or interviews be considered excused absences? I will attend Grace Hopper in October.

A:

Generally, yes. I just like to know in advance so we can work out any class-related implications.

Q:

I m still not entirely certain what qualifies as a significant bit . The definition recent development in the area of systems , for whatever reason, just doesn t make much sense to me. The example you showed in class didn t really help. Hopefully Google searching will help me out, but right now I m just not entirely sure what constitutes a significant bit or not.

A:

My significant bit could admittedly have been clearer: Tianhe 2 is the new top supercomputer. In any case, we want to hear the highlights of new findings or technology related to the subject of the course. If you picked something from the conferences and news sites I recommend you will probably be fine. If you're really unsure, propose early and we'll have some time to dialogue about ideas.

Q:

It was mentioned that you can discuss with the class mentor, do we have one? if so who are they.

A:

Sadly, that's outdated language in the syllabus. I wish we did, but as a bi-annual course upper-level course, the candidate pool gets small quickly.

Q:

I don t really understand the best papers link on the website, but I m sure you ll discuss that when it becomes relevant, if ever (last updated in 2012).

A:

Oops. That was a broken link. Fixed. Thank you!

Q:

What would be the most important concepts covered in 161 to review for this class?

A:

Memory and pointers. Everything else (loops, functions, and conditionals, what else is there?) will come swimmingly. Learning to use gdb to debug your programs will be helpful additional knowledge.

2  About Me

Q:

What is your favorite class to teach here, and why?

A:

Perhaps CSC 262 (Computer Vision), because I know the material well and I'm excited about it. Plus, the course features an independent project, and it's fun to see what the class comes up with.

Q:

As a teacher, do you think students get better or worse at learning with age?

A:

I interpret your question "with age" to mean "with experience" (i.e., first year versus senior). Apologies if that's incorret. I think students (generally) learn a lot in their four years, and one of those is how to learn. So "better."

Q:

What kind of books do you enjoy? Do you have any pet projects, programming or otherwise? Do you also feel that interacting with John Stone is cool, but intimidating?

A:

I read all sorts of novels, the occasional thriller, books with international settings that teach me about other cultures and times (I recently finished Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance), and the occasionally standard commentary on our modern life and American culture or the human condition.

My pet projects are those associated with my research.

I enjoy interacting with Mr. Stone, but understand how students can find many faculty intimidating (myself included).

Q:

You mentioned in class that computer science students tend to have a different research experience than those in other fields, could you elaborate on that a bit more. Is this a problematic occurrence or simply just a different occurrence.

A:

Computing has (at least) three paradigms: theory, abstraction (or science), and design (or engineering).¹ The scientific perspective is sometimes neglected relative to the design side. Whether it's for ignorance or preference is hard to say, but the field benefits from a robust view of all three paradigms, especially science.²

Q:

How was your summer?

A:

Awesome! (Though I wish I could have travelled more; I'm putting together plans for more extensive travel next summer.)

Q:

Do you make art? Do you like art? Do you... .buy art?

A:

I make art; I am an inactive song writer (well, until my son was born, now I sing to him all the time). I like art, but I'm often confused by it. I love visiting museums, and my wife was a studio art major (now she's a portrait photographer). She buys (and makes) the art, though I've often thought we need more on our currently very bare walls.

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